Sailor Paula Lewin made it three wins in a row as Female Athlete of the Year on Saturday night, while Conrad Lister and Antoine Jones put bowling back in the spotlight by becoming the first dual Male Athletes of the Year.

Lister and Jones put Bermuda on the map last summer in Malaysia when they won the silver medal in the team competition at the Commonwealth Games. It was the only medal for Bermuda and made the pair instant heroes back home.

At the Hamilton Princess on Saturday they were rewarded further with the Athlete of the Year trophy, the first such award bestowed on a bowler in the 18-year history of the Government-sponsored ceremony.

"We came here this evening just looking for a citation as recognition,'' said Lister, who admitted to being surprised at winning the top award.

"I'm honoured to be a recipient of the trophy. There are so many athletes who did very well last year, but the silver medal at Commonwealth, I guess, elevated us to the top of the pack.'' The silver has helped increase the popularity of bowling in Bermuda so much that Lister admitted he was finding it difficult to get on the lanes.

"It has helped to establish bowling so much that now I can't even get a chance to practice, because so many people are coming to bowl these days,'' he said.

Jones also admitted he wasn't thinking too much about winning Athlete of the Year.

"As we came back everybody kept saying we were going to win Athlete of the Year,'' he said. "Bowling is pretty popular, it's just that it isn't recognised by the media, actually.'' The pair are now hoping to represent Bermuda at the Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg in July.

While Lewin received the accolades for oustanding achievements in 1998, her crew -- twin sister Peta, Leatrice Roman and Lisa Neasham -- were also invited on Saturday night to share in her success.

Lewin finished the year ranked number one in the world in women's match racing following wins in the Santa Maria Cup in Annapolis, Maryland and the Reid and Barton Cup in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Placing fifth in the Women's Match Racing World Championship in Saudi Arabia was one of her disappointments.

"We would like to win the World Championships, or at least improve on our fifth place,'' said Lewin after receiving her award.

"We actually won the round robin, so nine competitors advanced, us being number one and we sailed against number nine in sudden death and lost three-out-of-five. We know what's out there and we have the potential, but it just didn't happen for us.'' Lewin won't return overseas for more competition until June when she competes in Baltimore. "Then it's pretty heavy for about four months,'' she said.

As for trying to emulate triple jumper Brian Wellman's five straight victories, Lewin said: "We compete to enjoy it and do well and if it happens it happens. We take it race for race, we like sailing and the competitiveness and all the good things about the sport.'' Some 17 awards were presented during the evening in five categories.

The Bermudian Junior Bowling Association and Bermuda Junior Golf Association received Appreciation awards while the Bank of Bermuda, through their contribution and assistance to triathlon in particular, received a Citation.

Other recipients in that category were long-time administrator, Earl (Gabby) Hart for his contribution to track and field, table tennis, football and cricket, golfer Eardley Jones, Allan (Forty) Rego in boxing and George Sousa in football.

Achievement awards went to runners Terrance Armstrong and Kavin Smith, sailor Malcolm Smith, cyclist Elliot Hubbard and the Bermuda rugby team for winning the Caribbean Championships last year in the Bahamas.

Evelyn Redford and Clarence Smith, for their long and dedicated service to the sports of equestrianism and running respectively, received Special Achievement awards.